Handwriting can be a major clue in a mystery novel. So when my sister asked me to edit hers (she's normally a romance writer), and she used handwriting analysis as a clue, I wondered... Were the police using handwriting analysis in the early 1800s, when her book was set?
Pliny the Elder, during the Roman empire, used handwriting analysis to detect a forgery. In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Malvolio reads a letter he believes to be from Olivia, and says, "By my life, this is my lady's hand," referring to the handwriting style. But the earliest court cases where handwriting analysis was used were in the latter third of the 1800s.
In 1859, Henry Jumpertz was accused of murdering his mistress, Sophie Werner, and stuffing her body in a barrel. He claimed she'd committed suicide, and when he found the body, he panicked. The trial made national news.
The key piece of evidence supporting Henry's claims was a letter purportedly written by Sophie where she wrote she would soon "renounce the world" and be "in the grave," and that she would "flee forever." The defense brought forward several witnesses who said the handwriting was Sophie's, as well as two witnesses who testified Henry showed them the letter soon after receiving it. But no expert witnesses were called to analyze the letter's authenticity, presumably because expert testimony on handwriting wasn't considered necessary. (The jury convicted Henry, but it was overturned on appeal.)
By 1900, however, things had changed. In the case of the high-profile murder trial of William Rice, the police brought what they thought were forged checks to four different experts. This expert testimony weighed heavily in the trial.
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